Reviews by ericj63:

Buellton location -- I believe they have a location in Santa Barbara, too.

I visited on a late Sunday afternoon in early August (in case there are seasonal effects).

I stopped in while in area primarily for wine tastings. It was a pretty standard bar area with excellent beers, friendly people and helpful and knowledgeable service. I bought a few bottles to bring home -- I would have happily bought much more but shipping home from California adds a lot of cost per bottle.

I did not try the food while we were there, although we eat at Gino's pizza which delivers there. The pizza was very good recovery food from a hard day of tasting.

Visited the Santa Barbara location. Full selection of the beers while watching nfl football. Ordered door through bartender from lucky penny which has great pizza. Excellent afternoon of beer and food. Great service.

I can't stop in any town in America without paying a visit to a local brewery, and of those in Santa Barbara, this is the one I was most interested in checking out.

When I arrived with the family, the place was packed and a band was rocking out, making for a very loud establishment. No biggie, but surprising considering it was the afternoon.

As I usually do, I start with a flight for myself and find the sweetest beer available for my wife. My wife wasn't crazy about the wheat beer I chose for her, but I found plenty to like with the flight. Based on what I recall and a little help from the Untappd app, here's my impression of the beers I tried:

Lizard's Mouth- A Double IPA. I enjoyed this and found it very easy to put back. It was well-balanced and, surprisingly, wasn't the typical West Coast Hop Bomb. It was still very approachable. 4/5

Monkey's with Typewriters Rye- As the name suggests, this is a rye, and a decent one. My recollection is that I wasn't getting the rye spice that I wanted and that the hops were pretty subdued as well. Still, it was good enough. I gave it 3.5/5

Stearn's Irish Dry Stout- This isn't a style I don't see too much, but I did enjoy it. I recall a strong dark malt presence and hints of coffee with almost no sweetness. 4/5

Big Cone Black Ale- This was good and it required a second, full, pour. A moderately hoppy beer with dark malts that provided some hints of chocolate and toffee. 4/5

Davy Brown Ale- This was a run-of-the-mill brown ale. I enjoyed it, but didn't find anything unique about it. 3.5/5

Also, while up north in the town of Cambria, I had a pour of Fig Mountain's 3rd Anniversary Stout. The beer was very robust and complex in its flavors, with lots of oakiness, chocolate, vanilla, toffee and coffee notes (it's a stout and I believe it's aged in bourbon barrels, although I didn't detect a lot of bourbon notes, but I'd just had a Bourbon County before trying this). The beer was tasty and I'd certainly have enjoyed more, but when I was at the brewery they only had it in bottles and it was selling for $23. Whoa! Fig Mountain, I like your stuff, but there are a number of barrel-aged imperial stouts I like much more and some as cheap as $9 a bottle, so I couldn't justify this price. Anyway, the beer has sold well, so the locals are happy.

Finally, the service was friendly enough, so no complaints there. I don't recall seeing food, so beware coming hungry.